14
BIEXNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1918-1920,
The boy scout executive and girl scout commissioner act as recrea-
tional directors and have charge of all the health education and voca-
tional guidance.
A room is set aside in the Junior High School for all scout work
which, however, is passed upon by a council, including persons out-
side of the school force.
Through glee clubs and choruses great interest in community sing-
ing and other music has been developed. The scout organization is
helping to solve the dress problem for both boys and girls.
" To give the modern ideals of education would be to state the
ideals of scouting." The modern teacher is increasingly well fitted
to become a good scout leader.
Scouting may best be promoted through the public school, be-
cause that i*s the only organization that includes all the boys and
girls. Moreover, because of close daily association, leaders of school
troops can insure each scout being an active scout.
The school also benefits by scouting in a number of ways. Older
pupils stay in school longer because of their interest in scouting than
because of any other influence. "A year of work in scouting will do
as much toward acquainting a teacher with the ideals of teaching as
a year spent in any college or university of the country." Finally,
scouting secures the interest, attention, and good will of the parents
to the public schools.
Girl Sccrnt badges earned in 1919-20.
Subject.
Number.
Per 1,000.
Subject.
Number.
Per 1,000.
2,m
2,192
1,.')23
1,389
1,267
991
990
9-23
878
861
732
647
636
600
595
592
580
126
97
67
61
56
44
44
41
32
28
28
26
26
26
26
578
557
424
422
345
266
254
216
192
190
190
187
130
101
2 Laundress
19. Swimmpr
25
21. CycUst
5. Child nurse
22. Gardener
17
6. Cook
23. Athlete
7. Pathfinder
8. Health guardian . .
25. Bugler
11
26. Scribe
10
8
11. Citizen
28. Motorist
8
12. Signaler..
29. Dairy maid .
8
13. Bud hunter
30. Farmer
g
31. Sailor
15. Pioneer.
32. Electrician.. . .
4
16. Artist
17. Musician
Total
22,693
1,000
o
I
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
BUREAU OF EDUCATION
BULLETIN, 1921, No. 47
EDUCATION FOR
HIGHWAY ENGINEERING AND
HIGHWAY TRANSPORT
REPORT OF THE REGIONAL CONFERENCE
HELD AT UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH
FRIDAY. NOVEMBER ?6 iQ?n
By
PYKE JOHNSON AND WALT DN C. jdttfi 1 7 1922
EDUCATI9H Di^Al^GH
LEGISLATIVE LIBRARY
PARLIAMENT BU!L
TORONT
Tt
WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1921
ADDITIONAL COPIES
OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE PROCURED FROM
THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON, D. C.
AT
10 CENTS PER COPY
V
CONTENTS.
Page.
Letter of transmittal -4
Meniliors c.f the highway and highway transport education committee— 5
Membership of the conference ?>
Introduction 7
Relation of highway construction to civilization 7
Development and use of American highways 9
Highway construction in Pennsylvania 9
Financial side of highway construction 10
The Washington conference on education for highway transport 11
Relation of the schools to the highway problem 12
Good ri>ads essential to good rural schools 11
The social value of highways 14
Methods of teaching accident prevention in Detroit 10
Report of the highway transport committee 18
Report of the vocational education committee 19
Report of the committee on education for safety 20
3
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.
Department of the Interior,
Bureau of Education,
Washington, D. C, Octoler 16, 1919.
Sir : As a result of the national conference on education for high-
way engineering and highway transport called in Washington by the
Bureau of Education on May 15, 1920, a regional conference was
called at the University of Pittsburgh on November 26, 1920, under
the direction of the highway and highway transport education com-
mittee.
At this conference were discussed matters of importance to en-
gineering educators, to economists, and to the officers and teachers
of elementary and high schools, both uii)an and rural.
In order that the proceedings of this conference may be more
widely known, I recommend the publication of this report.
Respectfully submitted.
Jno. J. Tigert,
C ommissioner.
The Secretary of the Interior.
4
MKMI'.KIfS (">r TTTK HICIIWAY ANI> IIKUIWAV TRAXSPORT EDUCA-
rioN COMMITTKIv
Chiiinnan: Jtihn J. Tij,'t'rt, Uuitecl States Comiuissiouer of Education.
Tlios. H. MiK'r)(iiml(l. Clrief of the Bureau of Public Uoails, Unitetl States De-
partineiit of Af,'riculture.
Koy L>. ("luipin. luvsidem Hudson .Motor Car Co., vice president National Auto-
uiol)ile ('luinil)er of Coiinnerce.
Harvey S. Firestone, president Firestone Tiri' iVc Rubber Co., represeutiiifi the
Ilul>i)er Association of America.
F. L. Bishop, dean of School of Engineeriufr, University of IMttsbur^ih, secretary
of Society for the Promotion of Enjriiieering Education,
(^ol. F. C. Bo}:{;s, Coips of I'^iigineers, United States Army, War Department.
W. S. Keller, president Amei-ican Association of State Highway Ollicials.
Dirrctur: ('. .1. Til.len. Willard Building, Washington, D. C.
Srcrrtnri/: W. ('. John. Unite<l States Bureau of E<lucation.
MEMBERSHIP < )F THE CONFERENCE.
Julia Wade Al)bot. Specialist in Kindergarten Education, United States Bureau
of Education. Washington. D. C.
r)r. R. R. Ambrose.
Dallas W. Armstrong, Supeiintendent Venango County Schools. Franklin, Pa.,
representing Pennsylvania State Department of Education.
R. C. Barris, Public School Principal, Pittsburgh, Pa.
.\. G. Batchelder, Executive Cbairinan American Automobile Association,
Washington, D. C.
Miss Harriet Beard. Supervisor, Safety Education Department, Detroit Public
Schools. Detroit, Mich.
F. L. Bishop, Dean of the School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh,
Pittsburgh. Pa.
Arthur H. Blanchard, Professor of Highway Engineering and Highway Trans-
port, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.
Roy D. Chapin, President Hudson Motor Car Co., Detroit, Mich.; Vice Presi-
dent National Automobile Chamber of Commerce.
Philander P. Claxton, former I'luted States Commi.ssioner of Education, Depart-
ment of the Interior, Washington, D. C.
William L. Daly, Washington editor. Class .Journal Company Magazine.
B. M. Davis, Clarion, Pa., representing Clarion County teachers.
T. T. Dunn. Chairman Good Roads Committee, Chamber of Commerce, Pitts-
burgh. Pa.
H. E. Dyche, Professor and Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering,
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Russell T. Egner, Spe<ialist in Visual Education, Extension Division, Univer-
sity of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Ernest Farr. Director Firestone-Ship-by-Truck Bureau, Akron, Ohio.
Angus Ferguson, Grafton, W. Va., Resident Engineer, Barbour County.
Harvey S. Firest<.ne. ['resident Firestone Tire and Rubber Co., Akron, Ohio.
6
6 EDUCATION FOE HIGHWAY ENGINEERING.
George H. Follows, Professor of Commercial Engineering, Carnegie Institute of
Teclinology, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Leray P. Harnish, Sclaool Visitor and Vocational Adviser, Slippery Rock Nor-
mal School, Slippery Rock, Pa.
John W. Hallock, Professor of Industrial Engineering, University of Pitts-
burgh, Pittsburgh, Pa.
H. E. Hilts, Principal Assistant Chief Engineer, Pennsylvania State Highway
Department, Harrisbiirg. Pa.
W. D. Hines, Firestone Tire and Rubber Co., Akron, Ohio.
Robert P. Hooper, President Pennsylvania Motor Federation, Philadelphia, Pa.
A. L. Hope, School Principal, Pittsburgh, Pa.
A. S. Hurrell, Director, Vocational Teachers' Bureau, University of Pittsburgh,
Pittsburgh, Pa.
Pyke Johnson. Secretary Highway Committee, National Automobile Chamber
of Commerce, Washington, D. C.
Walton C. John, United States Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C.
Frank M. Leavitt, Associate Superintendent of Public Schools, Pittsburgh, Pa.
W. P. Loomis.
Andrew J. Maycholf, AVaynesburg College, Waynesburg, Pa.
Dorothea Miller, Supervisor Pittsburgh Safety Council, Pittsburgh, Pa.
William E. Mott, Director Division of Science and Engineering, Carnegie Insti-
tute of Technology, Pittsburgh, Pa.
S. B. McCormick, Chancellor University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Thomas H. MacDonald, Chief of Bureau of Public Roads, United States De-
partment of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.
Lewis W. Mclntyre, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering, University of
Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa.
M. C. McWherter, Assistant Director of Cooperation Work, University of
Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa.
J. L. O'Hara, Assistant Professor of Industrial Economics, Carnegie Institute
of Technology, Pittsburgh, Pa.
D. R. Reese, Vice President Pennsylvania Motor Federation, Scranton, Pa.
F. C. Richardson, Pittsburgh Motor Club, Erie, Pa.
F. D. Saupp, President Pittsburgh Automotive Association, representing Auto-
motive Association and Chamber of Commerce of Pittsburgh, Pa.
G. Henry Schmunk, Goods Roads Committee Chamber of Commerce, Pitts-
burgh, Pa.
B. H. Simpson, Portland Cement Association, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Charles B. Stanton, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering, Carnegie Insti-
tute of Technology, Pittsburgh, Pa.
R. T. Stewart, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Pittsburgh,
Pittsburgh, Pa.
E. K. Strong, jr.
J. M. Uhler, Superintendent of Schools, Conemaugh, Pa.
John Weber, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of
Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa.
W. F. Weiland, Instructor in Mechanical Engineering, University of Pittsburgh,
Pittsburgh, Pa.
Paul C. Wolff, Secretary Pennsylvania Motor Federation, Pittsburgh, Pa.
L. C. McCandliss, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Pitts-
burgh, Pittsburgh, Pa.
EDUCATION FOR HIGHWAY ENGINEERING AND
HIGHWAY TRANSPORT.
INTRODUCTION.
At the niocting: of the first national c-oiiforence on luRhway and highway-trans-
port education called in Washington, D. C, on May 15, 1920, hy the former Coni-
uiissioner of Kducation, Dr. V. 1'. Claxton, it was voted hy the conference
committee on higliway transport education :
This conference strongly recommends that universities and colleges offer
courses in highway transport as their facilities will permit, and that at least
10 universities, loc-ated in different geogiaphical sections of the United States,
otTer short-period advanced courses covering the various phases of liighway
transport, and 4-year courses in highway transport engineering or higlnvay
transport options in 4-year collegiate courses.
That the underlying principles of highways and highway transport, as well
as the rules of tiie road, he taught in the grammar schools' and high schools of
the Nation.
Among the first institutions to resinnid to the call of the Washington confer-
ence was the University of Pittsburgh, which at that time was completing a
special highway-tran.sport laboratory, In which the work in both highway
engineering and highway transport is carried on under the same roof.
Among those invited to participate in this conference were the memlK^rs of the
Educational Association of Western IVnn.sylvania and the I'itt.sburgh Teachers'
Institute, and about 2,0r»0 teachers were pre.sent from these organizations.
The purpose of this report is twofold : First, to stimulate greater interest of
colleges and schools of engineering in the studies of education for highway
engineering and highway transijort ; second, to assist teachers in the granmiar
grades and high schools in teaching safety as well as the relation of our high-
ways to the economic development of the country ; and, third, to encourage rural
school development by nu-ans of impmved methods (jf transportation of stmU-nts.
RELATION OF HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION TO CIVILIZATION.
By Roy D. Chapin, Vice President \ational Automobile Vfiainber of Commeree.
Our duty to civilization to-day is to encourage the construction and use of the
best and largest po.ssible number of roads and highways in this country, so that
we may encourage the highest type of civilization attainable in America. We
should make these routes useful and easy to travel, so that (jur people can move
from one section to another easily and fnHjuently, and so that every citizen may
come to think not in terms of his own locality, but in terms of the Nation. As
we develop highways we shall break down sectionalism.
There are 8,000.000 passenger motor cars in this country to-day, and figuring
on a basis of a little less than 4 people per car, a little over 30,000,000 people
ride over the lughways to-day, so that highways touch clo.se home to many
peoi>le. The pas.senger-car mileage in automobiles is somewhere between 40 and
50 i>er cent higher than the passenger mileage of the railroad companies.
7
8 EDUCATION FOR HIGHWAY ENGINEERING.
One point is preeminent in Iiighway and highway-transport engineering, and
that is the economic side of the matter. We are concerned not only with ex-
penditure of vast sums of money on the highways but also with the vehicles
that pass over the highways, and it is our duty to see that money appropriated
for highways is wisely expended. The largest sum that is appropriated for
public improvement is annually going to highways; it touches your pocketbook
and the pocketbook of your family, and it is our duty to see that our boys
understand better than we do what a good highway means and wliether they
are going to get a good highway when the various authorities build it.
In Detroit, for example, we are spending millions of dollars in trying to
open arteries of traffic through the down-town centers. If we do not help others
to get a true vision of this great development, the cost of millions to-day will
be turned into tens of millions in a few years.
We must also show the effect of liighways on the cost of housing. Living has
been cheai>er in Detroit during the last two or three years because a cheap
car enables a nran to own a home in the suburbs, where rent is cheaper.
Again, highway transport has created consolidated schools. The little one or
two room schoolhouse was usually situated at a crossroads, and the attendance
was variable, depending upon the weather and the roads. To-day many States
are building consolidated schools, with motor busses bringing children in and
taking them back.
We must have highway systems. These must be laid out intelligently, years
ahead of time. Through routes in one State must connect with routes of other
States; county routes must connect with other county routes; and township
routes with otlier township routes, so that in the end we shall have a network
of highways, not as we have now in almost evei-j- State of the Union, Isolated
pieces of highway and great stretches of bad road or a good road connecting
with a bad road or stretches of bad road connecting good roads.
Next to the home, our biggest daily contact is with the highway. We follow
it to work. It is impossible to escape it. The average citizen complains about
his road, yet he little understands his relationship to it. It is the duty of edu-
cation to interpret that relationship. The Nation has a great duty in the ex-
penditure of millions of dollars for highway transport, and it will be nruch
more difficult to get funds in the next 5 or 10 years to construct these roads if
our educators do not interpret that relationship.
Then, as to traffic rules : The teachers in lower grades can teach the mean-
ing of the rules. If there is any one thing that every man wants to do, it is to
save life. A true inculcation of those rules into the minds of the children as
they come to school is going to cut down very measurably the number of acci-
dents on the streets. Traffic games and highway games in the schools will
bring the children to a realization of what highway transport really means and
their relation to it. In the high schools it seems wise to teach the economic
value of the highways and highway transport. Every high-school student to-day
is a potential voter. The students of to-day are going to vote to-morrow for
many nriles of highway construction at an expenditure of many millions of dol-
lars. They should know the subject so that they can vote these sums intelli-
gently. Colleges should train highway engineers as well as highway-transport
engineers.
DEVELOPMENT AND USE OF AMERICAN HIGHWAYS.
By S. B. McCoRMrcK, Chancellor, University of Pittsburgh.
It is interesting to consider the development of highways in America, and
particularly in our Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The people of Pennsyl-
vania have watched the progress of highways, canals, and railroads. The canals
EDUCATION FOR HIGHWAY KNOINEERING. 9
came after the highway between rhilmli-lplua ami rittsl)ur},'b. ami .shortly after
the cuiial the railroad came on, reacljinj: IMttsburjrh in ISoi. Ahuiil 1817 the
pike was completed, and it was a busy hi;;hway from I'hiladelphia to Pitts-
burgh, the national pike also followinj; its route to Washington. Now we have
reached a period in our highway construction when it is to be lookeil upon not
as a metiioil of solving' an immediate problem, but as the most promim-nt tliiiii^
in America.
This, therefore, is a matter which deiuands the greatest study and the best in-
tellect that we have, and it is a hojieful sign that you are going about it .so as
to asc-ertain just what ti-at!ic must be carrieil over these highways in order to
find out just exactly what highways you have to construct. And after you
determine what highways you have to construct, you may have to decide upon
the other question, as to wliat kind of vehicles, in weiglit. and so forth, are
to go over it.
It is a good thing, as Mr. Chapin has indicated, to eidist all kinds of people
in the highway problem. It is a disgrace that so many people are injured and
killed in developing this new instrument of transportation. This evil must be
remedied. People do not realize that we have in this couutrj- just as many
engineers as there are automobiles, running not upon a track like a locomotive,
but upon highways. The drivers do not realize the tremendous power of the
thing they are attempting to control.
In our schools and colleges, and everywhere that people can be brought to-
gether, this should bo taught, because all of this is a part of one great plan;
and when the time comes when from the Atlantic to the I'.icific and from Canada
to the Gulf we shall iiave good roads, roads that will be built in such a way
as to endure, we shall bring about that which will guarantee more effectively
than anything else the greatness and prosperity of our Nation,
Again, if you have highways and automobile trucks, you have a guaranty
that no group of men can stand up before the American people and threaten to
starve them unless their demands are granted. I am speaking altogether with-
out any bias, for sometimes men have grievances which ought to be righted, and
sometimes they have not, but whether they have or not the power of killing
people by starvation is too much for any group of men. and we guarantee the
safety and security of the Nation itself just in the measure in which we con-
struct these highways.
This seems to me the mo.st vitally important matter of a material kind before
the American jieople to-day.
HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION IN PENNSYLVANIA.
By H. E. Hii.Ts. Primipal A'<sistnnt Chirf IJnijineer, State Ilighiray Department.
In Pennsylvania we have laid out, as you know, what we call a primary sys-
tem of roads connecting the county seats. We do not take the individual sec-
tions of that primary system haphazard, but have laid out the full program year
by year, so that when we get through spending this hundre<l to a hundred and
twenty-five millions in four or live years we shall have a complete system of high-
ways, selecting first the sections which are in most serious shape now. In order
to accomplish this, we have to consider man power. We now have over 8(X» in-
spectors from the universities working for us on the various c<mstniction jobs.
We must deiiend upon the universities to turn out year by year men who will be
acceptable to us.
In the State hidiway department ve have an automobile division, through
which we collect our money. Those moneys are spent for maintenance. W'n have
74019°— 21 2
10 EDUCATION FOR HIGHWAY ENGINEERING.
a maintenance division, under a maintenance engineer and the commissioner, and
each county !ias a representative in the person of a susperintendent, who is in
many cases a technically trained man — an engineer — and who has his caretakers
on the main primary trunk lines. Tlie construction division handles the ex-
penditure of moneys raised by bond issues, or direct appropriations of the legis-
lature, and of the various bond issues authorized by the counties, many of which
look to us to superintend tlie construction of their highways as well as to check
up their plans.
We have found it very important to establish a testing laboratory. We have
now about 50 men in this work, 10 stationed in Pittsburgh, to see that the ma-
terials we get for our roads are suitable when delivered. Our inspectors on the
projects do the rest.
We loolv upon each road or group as a separate problem. We send our corps
in the held and endeavor to make relocations where they are justified. We
estimate an increase of 100 or 200 per cent in motor traffic after the roadway is
built. We endeavor to tind the cost of added rise and fall, of added curvature,
and where we would be justified in shortening the distance between terminal
points, or in trying to find lower loops in the mountains, so that where we have
costs of $100,000 to $125,000 a mile we can show why we are spending the money.
In other words, we talk from an engineering standpoint, dissect all the items
of cost per mile of road, and satisfy ourselves whether those costs are justified.
We have problems now in our large traffic centers in detouring trunk lines
around the cities. AVe have done that with the railroads for years, and we are
now going to do it with the highways. A great many people going from Wash-
ington to New York would be glad to obviate the necessity of going through Phila-
delphia, and we shall be compelled to construct roads probal)ly sooner than we
think to handle through traffic. To save three-quarters of an hour in a 4-hour
trip is an item worth while.
I figured roughly one morning what our justifiable expenditures might be for
a primary system. Calculating that 75 per cent of the traffic would go on 25
per cent of the roads, I found that $35,000,000 a year was a very conservative
estimate of saving on tires, on general repairs, and on oil and gas in automo-
biles. That is just a saving in dollars and cents for the operation of the
vehicle over the road. It does not take into account any of those things that
we look upon in an educational way. Thirty-five million dollars! Multiply
tliat by 20, and you have the capitalization value.
Finally, I want to impress upon all of you that, in order to carry out this
work properly, the educational situation must be handled so that the highway
department can get a supply of trained men, with the ability to reach the top
in a short time.
FINANCIAL SIDE OF HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION.
By A. G. Batchelder, Executive Chairman, American Automobile Association.
There is one thing which I think is fundamental in this subject, namely,
the economic side of it. It is a big task to get the money to begin vnth.
There was a time when we secured funds for highway improvements from
counties, but first there had to be a State appropriation in order to induce the
county to move in the matter. When tlie motor vehicle came on the scene we
found that the county unit was too small, and so we realized that we must
use a larger unit of taxation, namely, the State, which really meant nothing
more nor less than that the richest counties of the State, through the State
EDUCATION FOIt HIGHWAY ENGINEERING. 11
treasury, built roads across the poor i-nuiities whicli witc not uhle to Ituild
roads for themselves.
Finally, the Federal Govermiu'iit contriliuttHl money, and now in the same way
that the richer counties heli)ed tlie poor counties in the State the rich States
help the poor Stiites. Our idea was that those Federal dollars would contribute
to a State, and that the State should contribute to the counties, and especially
the poor counties. Unfortunately, in carrying out the national plan many of
the States have not functioned as they should. As a result we have not secured
the hijrhways we hoped for. Federal money should not be spent on roads unless
they have some national characteristic.
THE WASHINGTON CONFERENCE ON EDUCATION FOR HIGHWAY
TRANSPORT.
By P. P. Claxton, Unitcil States Comiiiis.'<ion('r of Eihication.
Last siirinir there was held in Washington, at niy rnpiest. a conference on
education for highway engineering and for highway transport. That conference
was attended by representative teachers of engineering in the colleges and uni-
versities, by highway commissioners, and others interested in the building and
promotion of highways especially from the technical side, and those gentlemen
who had to do with the making of automobiles, auto trucks, and auto transporta-
tion. The conference lasted two days, and out of It grew a strengthening of
the convictions that we each had of the importance of this kind of education.
I think we agreed that we had come to a new era in transportation, and that
probably in the next 20 years we will spend for the building of highways — hard-
surface highways — as much as or more than we ever si>ent in a like time for
the building of railroads. That means that we shall spend 10, 15, or 20 billions
of dollars for the building of higliways ; that those highways will be of a kind
different from the highways of the past, and that they will require knowledge
and application of technical principles.
The highways should be built by properly equipped engineers, who understand
gratling, making curves, and other things far different from what they have
been in the past, to meet the new condition of heavy trucks running at high
speed.
Next comes the proper preparation of the roadbed, so that it will not yield to
rain or frost, or give way under tiie surface, because a road is a thing that has
to be left out over night regardless of the weather. You can not take it in and
shelter it and care for it, and you have to take care of the weight on it and
the impact of rapidly moving freight of many tons. All the roads, probably,
in existence at the time this conference was held were practically out of date.
We found that the hard surface roads made for light-draft automobiles, before
heavy trucks were used much, were giving way under tho heavy work of the
truck, so that we decided that for the balance of these thousands and scores of
thousands of miles of highways to be built there will be neces.sary a different
kind of training from that which the ordinary engineer hiLS had.
It came out in the Washington conference that highways are built for certain
kinds of transportation ; certain kinds of men are going to go over them, not
horses and buggies, but automobiles and trucks, both of which are new inven-
tions, and probably neither one of them yet perfected, especially the truck. And
for the making of auto trucks, tires, and machinery there is necessary another
kind of engineering involving the principles of mechanics. It Ls a new thing,
and so far we are applying old knowleilge by the hit-and-miss method.
12 EDUCATION FOR HIGHWAY ENGINEERING,
So we need schools and higher institutions of learning to furnish the means
of training men for this kind of work, and for the organization of transport
over the road. We decided it would be a good thing to appoint an executive
committee, which has held a number of meetings, and which has subdivided
itself. Some of the committees have held meetings, and there is some hope now
that there will be a definite organization by which study of these problems can
be promoted, if not as effectively as they should be by the United States Gov-
ernment, yet effectively coordinating the study of that knowledge that we now
have.
RELATION OF THE SCHOOLS TO THE HIGHWAY PROBLEM.
By Thomas H. MacDonald, Chief United States Bureau of I'uhlic Roads.
It is not expected that every man will become a builder of highways. Nor is
it expected that every man will become an operator of motor vehicles. But
there is not a citizen whose daily life will not be more and more influenced by
the operation of motor vehicles over the public highways.
The tremendous importance which the highways in their relation to trans-
portation have attained, the great problems which are necessarily connected
with their building and maintenance, the operation of traffic over them, and the
economic problems attendant upon these two, including the distribution of
financial responsibility and the values to the communities which accrue from
highway improvement, call for study and research. Particular attention is
directed to the fact that these problems have come upon us within a very
limited time. It has not been a slow development, giving us time to readjust
ourselves. There has been little time for preparation, and we are now faced
with the necessity of a broad educational progi-am through which we must
reach many classes if the objective of efficient and economical use and exten-
sion of our new transportation facilities is to be gained.
Upon our school system will to a large extent fall the responsibility of pro-
viding education of two very different kinds — the education of the public served
and the education of the public servant. In this country little attention has
been given to training young men for the public service. In fact, it is not
uncommon for men to graduate from the universities without any adequate
knowledge of the organization of the smaller units of the civil government in
their own communities.
Many men will be needed in the highway improvement and transport pro-
gram. If they obtain an appreciation of what real public service means, not
only in the higher capacities but in the positions which control the affairs of
the local communities, there must be implanted by the schools, beginning with
the boys and girls in the lower grades, an interest in the development of the
highways in their own communities. If they are taught who is responsible
for their care, if their attention is called to the safe usage of the highways,
they will have a much better background for higher training and their interest
may be enlisted to the point that when it comes time to choose a college career
they will take up a study of the technical branches which are necessary to an
understanding of the science of highway building and highway transport.
A large number of technical graduates will need to be trained each year if
the public is to be served by properly trained men. This is true not only in
the Federal and State road programs, but in those of the cities, counties, and
other governmental divisions.
It is estimated that the number of men who would be normally absorbed by
the State and Federal highway departments alone each year would amount to
EDI'CATIOX FOi; HKIHWAV KXCI N KKRING. 13
practically the entiiv imiiiher ol' -raduatcs of civil cii^iiiKHMiiit; courses in the
c.iuiitry. It is abst>iutely certain that only a small proportion of these men,
nnder present conditions, will enter the public service because of the larger
inducements elsewhere.
The swoml most imi)ortant need of education in highway development is that
of hrinj^ing to the citizenship through the agencies of the schools a better
knowledge of the service demands winch the highways must fulfill. It is
perhaps too much to expect that the understanding will become general in a
short period of the tremendous increases in the uses of the highways whicli
have conie in the past three years. It is conservatively estimated that in the
agricultural communities the vehicle's mile u.se of the public roads has increased
at least 500 i)er cent, while contiguous to the more thiclcly populated areas tlie
increase is at least 1,000 per cent. The increased u.se is not alone in the
number of vehicles but in the weights and .speeds of the trafhc units. Size and
speed are the destroying agents, and our road systems which were built for very
much smaller loads are showing, in many cases, failure.s.
There is too generally prevalent a feeling that the highway builders of the
past have failed. Becau.se some highways are not now satisfactorily carrying
the tremendous tratlic which has suddenly come upon them there is a tendency
to criticize the men in the public service who were responsible for the con-
struction of these roads. An impartial student of the records will undoubtedly
liud that if the roads were honestly and con.scientiously built under the direction
of a competent engineer, they are giving as good service as could possibly be
expected under the changed conditions and lliat the construction planned by
the engineer is much aliead of that wiucli the public thought was uece.s.sary
at the time.
The fact has been true of the highway engineer as of many other profes-
sions— the men who have pointed the way and who have accomplished the
outstanding results have done so more often with the opposition of the public
whom they serve than witli their c(^operation. Here is a prime function of
the .schools. There must be imi)lanted in the minds of the boys and girls
who are now in the lower grades a different attitude toward the governmental
agencies which the public has set up to serve itself.
We need men trained in the proper expenditure of the great sums which will
be appropriated for road improvement. We need men educated not only in
the technical requirements of road building, but we need a larger citizenship
which is more conversant with the way in which its own affairs are managed, so
that it will int«'lligeutly select the men who can an<l will administer these offices
in the public interests.
In conclusion, therefore, the teacher of to-day. who is concerned with the
great questions so ch)sely alTecting tin' welfare and advancement of the iiublic
as a whole, will take the opportunity to implant in the minds of his students,
whether these students are of the lower or higher grades, a knowledge of the
.service which the public netnls from its young men, and will direct the attention
of those who .seem especially qualitied to the oiiportunities offered for a splendid
public career in the construction and maintenance of the public highways.
The need of education in highway development lies in two directiou.s — the
training of more men to carry on the actual work and the training generally of
the public to the tremendous importance of the work which must be done and
the economic value that will be gained by the public through tlie increased trans-
portation faciPities now made possible by the combination of the improved high-
way and the motor vehicle. These problems are educational. They belong to
the teacher.
14 EDUCATION FOR HIGHWAY ENGINEERING.
GOOD ROADS ESSENTIAL TO GOOD RURAL SCHOOLS.
By Dallas W. Armstrong, Superintendent of Schools, Venango County, Pa.
It seems to me that the road problem and the rural school problem are iden-
tical. The consolidation of the rural schools in the way that they should be
consolidated is practically impossible in many sections of Pennsylvania until we
have some road improvement. The cost of these schools is a question before tlie
people of the State, just as is the cost of the construction of the roads. The State
must bring these schools together and give the boys and girls of the country
and agricultural districts an education that will help them on the farm, and
will give them some of the advantages that the boys and girls of the cities have.
While these schools will cost more, they will give much more to the boys and
girls of the community in proportion to the cost. Poor roads delay this pro-
gram ; in fact, they almost prevent it. For example, it is almost impossible to
drive an auto bus during three or four months in the year in my county.
Good roads and the economy of good roads should be introduced as a sub-
division of the study of thrift. We have boys and girls in a certain township
in "Venango County 10 or 12 miles away from school, and it is impossible to get
them to school with the present roads. The township plans to build a high
school this year ; the boys and girls are demanding high-school privileges. If
those boys and girls could see the opportunities that we could give to country
children through consolidated schools, I am sure they would use their influence
with their parents.
THE SOCIAL VALUE OF HIGHWAYS.
By P. P. Claxton, United States Commissioner of Education.
I am going to speak first on the relation of the highway and good roads to
education, particularly from the standpoint of the consolidated schools.
Originally our schools had a very small function to perform. Boys and girls
in our pioneer homes had many educational agencies in connection with their
daily tasks that the modern boy and girl do not have.
The home was a little kingdom to itself. The home manufactured the clothing
and food. For the older boy the school did a very small part of the supple-
mentary educational work. It merely gave the means and tools of education.
There was opportiniity to apply the principles which they thus got back into
their home life. The modern school must give those experiences that the boys
obtained in the primitive way in the primitive home. For that reason the one-
teacher school in the country breaks down. In the one-room country school
in Pennsylvania — and there are many thousands of them — one teacher teaches
all subjects ; she teaches all grades, and all ages from 6 to 18 or more. She is
her own superintendent, her own health inspector, janitor, school nurse, besides
being the representative of education and culture in the community. No person
yet has been able enough to do the work as it should be done.
Hence the importance in this State of consolidated schools. In one county
which we have recently studied, out of 179 school buildings, 147 are one- room
schools, and a careful survey shows that if there were good roads in that county
29 schools would be sufficient. One-third of the number of teachers in one-room
schools might actually be dismissed, and there would not be any more work on
the remaining teachers.
Another reason for good roads in the community is that of the church. The
country church largely breaks down, not because the country people are not
religious, but because it is not easy to go to church. By bringing the people
together to the country church by means of good roads, we might add much to
EnrcATTOx Fon inciiWAV kxoinkkring. 15
the cause of liL'lit liviiiir. I am sure that every jiood teacher would favor it.
They preach a Heaven with roads itaved with prold. We would like to have paved
roads in the preparation for Heaven.
lA't us take up the matter of conununity or^'aiuzation. A part of scliool work,
in adiliiion to the rejrular class work, is the hriii^'in;.' tojrether of the ^rown-up
people for ac-quaintance. friendslui", instruction, discu.ssion, and it may be for
cooperation. Wherever a schoolliouse is built, especially a consolidated school,
almost invariai)ly there is a room provided for the adults to meet in, assembly
lialls with library, movinji pictures, stereopticons, etc. But it is practically im-
possible to brinj.' the people together in any large way unless there are better
means of travel.
For that reason we are interested in the building' of the liij:hway as an educa-
tional project for the country. Modern education does not .stop with the ele-
mentary school ; it continues and becomes more important in the period of later
adolescence and the earlier manhood and womanhood.
At this morninjx's conference it was .said that teachers should be informed
about hiirhways. Country schools should teach travel and transport as well
as other subjects, so that the pupil may understand his own life and his own
work. If you leave him in a mist of darkness, \\-ithout knowledge of his own
comnnnuty, his own people, and those near by, the chances are he will never
be able to break through that mist and use the light you try to give him.
No doubt you will be asked to help in this State in making people understand
the highway problem in its relationship to the transportation of their products
and goods in their innnediate conununity, because we are going to spend prob-
ably in the next 20 years l;j or 20 billion dollars in building highways
and auto vehicles for serving conmiunities in the way I have suggested —
more than we ever spent in a lifetime on the railroads of the United States.
('onse<iuently, there will be opportunities for thousands of young men to work
and serve their country in developing our highways and transport systems.
Chancellor McCokmick. The Whisky Kebellion in Western Pennsylvania a
century and a quarter or more ago occurred because there were not highways
by which to send the products of this western part of the country to the East.
It was easier to tran.sport whisky than the grain. To-day thousands are
starving in China with food in other parts of China which can not be gotten
to them. So in Ru.ssia, and in other parts of the world.
It is, therefore, important that all teachers attempt to understand the sig-
nificance of highways in order that they may bring the subject home to their
students.
Along with this matter of highway construction and highway transport is
the matter of safety. Perhaps at this time in our history one of the things
of which we ought to be ashametl is the number of lives that are paid as the
price of improved methods of transportation. The safety-Iirst idea is one that,
along with this matter of highway construction, ought to engage the interest
and have a part of the energj' of every jMiblic-school teacher.
METHODS OF TEACHING ACCn)ENT PREVENTION IN DETROIT.
By Hakkikt Bk.\ki),
Supcrvi.wr of Safety Education, Detroit Piibliv Si-hooln.
There are a few things that I should like to recommend to aid in avoiding
accidents to school children. There should be projKT traffic regulations along
all highways to safeguard both the driver and the pe«lestrian; and a rigid,
16 EDUCATION FOR HIGHWAY ENGINEERIN^G.
impartial enforcement of these regulations is very important, if we are to safe-
guard the lives of the people, especially the children.
For tlie prevention of these accidents, the only method that will be eifective
is education of grown people and of children. The education of children in the
proper use and value of the highways is the thing most to be urged in these
days. It is hard to etlucate grown people in new ways. We should begin with
the children ; teach them how to travel and how to live, especially in a big city.
In Detroit we have a very serious situation in regard to accidents. There
are very many reasons for it ; all traffic is on one level, which causes a great
many accidents in a city of a million inhabitants ; the streets converge to one
center, which makes very heavy traffic downtown.
A check was made in 1918 at Michigan and Woodward Avenues, in the heart
of the city, and from the hour of 7 in the morning to 7 in the evening, 27,983
automobiles passed that intersection. I don't know what the number is now,
but I think at least 10 times as many.
There is a very tolerant attitude toward reckless driving that causes many
accidents. During the 12 months ending August 1, 1919, when the Safety De-
partment was organized, 1,097 accidents to the school children occurred, 96
being fatal. That appalling number led the board of education to insist that
something be done; so that is how the safety-first movement was organized
as an experiment.
There was really nothing to go by ; we had no textbooks. We had only the
records from the police department of the accidents to school children to study,
and with that start we began to build up a safety department.
The police and fire departments lend all possible cooperation. They are
anxious for us to help them and we are anxious to do so. The poUce send me
numerous and full reports of accidents, giving the age, the circumstances,
whether the accident took place at the intersection of the streets, and all de-
tails. I have found out a great many things that happen to children between
the ages of 6 and 7, and to boys 12, 13, and 14, when they begin to use bicycles,
and such data as that, and we have built up a course of study based on the
conditions we have found to exist. We have inquired in the schools to see
where the children's interests lie. We started with their drawings, and asked
them to draw pictures of safety on the street. The results were very interest-
ing. They made the drawing paper with the four corners representing the
streets, and they would represent policemen and children trying to cross the
streets. Some even put in an automobile or two, and one boy had a large
round thing shown at the back of the automobile and when the teacher asked
what that was he said that was an extra tire.
The most interesting thing was that all of the policemen were in uniform.
Some of the children didn't know enough to put arms on the people crossing
the street but they put uniforms on the policemen and put buttons on the
coat and a badge. We saw that the children understood that there is such a
thing as a uniform. We talked adxjut public service; how the uniform differs
from the clothing of other people and the meaning of the uniform and that it
involved some responsibility, and it also involved respect for the uniform.
We tried, with traffic games, to show what their ideas and interests were with
regard to traffic on the street. We started with the aisle in the fi'ont of the
room. That was the main avenue, and all the narrow aisles were side streets.
We drew marks where they should cross. Some of the children were policemen,
others were pedestrians.
They are all learning what it means to cross the streets. The children who
represent the policeman have a very different idea of the policeman than they
would have had if they had not been policemen themselves.
EDICA i l( I.N l-dU mcilUAV i: N( 1 1 M.Ki; 1 Nt ;. 17
A little boy named Tliaddeus i> policfiuau at one corner. They have a boy
representin;: the speeder, who has an autnnioblle 3 or 4 feet lonjr, and he comes
dash in jr across the stajre and knocks down three or four children who have been
jay-walking, and Thaddeus picks up these children and tells them how imi>or-
tant it is to be careful, and to pay strict attention about their walking. He also
L'ives some admonition to the speeder, which, I think, is very necessary.
We have tried the r>oy Scouts. I visited a school this week where they have
l.\> Boy Scouts, and they take turns, one scout one week and one another week.
They stand at the corner nearest the .school, and take the children across the
street, and at times hold up the trathc.
The teachers also liiid that the introiluction of work of this kind is not a
burden, and I think that is soniething we must consider, because nowadays
teachers have so many burdens on them that I think we should be very, very
careful in what we ask the teachers to tindertake.
The children are organizing safety clubs and wear safety buttons that the
police department furnishes. We have had competition between the schools in
keeping down the number of accidents, and competition between public and
parochial schools as to how many children from each are injured, and each
tries to re<luce the number. We try to keep in contact with them. If they have
ideas, we like to have them.
We have issued a small book that has suggestions as to the work and the
methods that can be used. The teachers don't take that as an additional sub-
ject, but give it to children through their drawing or through their dramatiza-
tion or their English ; even in their arithmetic they learn about the city de-
partments, liecau.^^e this work has develoi)ed not only in accident study, but in
fire, first aid in emergencies, and the first principles of civics.
We also have a course of training for teachers in the Teachers' College in
accident prevention, and some teachers are interested enough to want to spe-
cialize in it.
If the police department have some idea that they wish to give to the children,
if there are special dangers that arise, we try to incorporate that in the course
for the children. For instance, a few years ago, at the time when the days
were getting shorter, the children were running out on the streets in the dusk.
The drivers could not see them, and, consequently, many accidents occurred.
The secretary of the school board asked, " Isn't there some way you can impress
on the children that it is not safe to run out unless they carry a newspaper
or something white that will sIk>w when they cross the streets in the dusk?"
We gave them some lessons in protective coloring, showing how birds in nature
have protective coloring, and in that way a great many of them got the idea,
and when they went out in the dusk, going to the grocery just before supper,
they would carry a newspaper, or wear something light, so that they could be
more easily seen in the darkness.
The Boy Scouts help us very much in our work and we help them. We
help them to demonstrate the principles of first aid in their Boy Scout Manual,
and, of course, the children feel if the Boy Scouts can teach these things, they
want to join, and the girls want to join the Fireside Group. We are planning
to have Boy Scouts for every school. If we can have the troops meet right
in the school we fe<'l it is going to be of great help to the school.
We have had community evenings, where the parents and the department
and the board of education cooperate. We furnish some feature that the
children have been doing in the school. It is always interesting to the parents
to see these things. We have one or two community features, dramatization
18 EDUCATION FOR HIGHWAY ENGINEEKING.
or iinisic, or whatever is easiest to give, and then have a safety talli, and a
moving picture showing how accidents occur, and another moving picture to
attract the people. There is no admission charge and the thing is very satis-
factory. It was quite interesting to see how the children would bring the
parents who had never been in the school before. In that way we have the
parents see what a splendid work the children are doing, and they have their
children at school every day on time.
You may be interested in the results of one year of our work, which was
largely experimental. During the year before we had 96 school children killed,
and many more younger ones ; the 96 were children from 6 to 18. During the
12 months that ended with the 1st of September, 1920, after this work was
instituted, we had 48, which was a saving of 50 per cent of those lives, and,
instead of a total of 1,097 accidents to the school children of the city, we had
589. That is 589 too many, but still it is a reduction of almost 50 per cent
the first year. So we feel in Detroit that education along these lines is well
worth while.
REPORT OF THE HIGHWAY TRANSPORT COMMITTEE.
1. This committee strongly recommends that universities and colleges offer a
required 3-hour course throughout one year in highway transport and high-
way engineering as a part of their civil engineering courses, and that not more
than 10 universities located in different geograplaical sections of the United
States offer short-period advanced courses covering the various phases of high-
way engineering and highway transport, and a 4-year course in highway trans-
port engineering or highway transport and highway engineering option in 4-year
collegiate or technical course.
2. It is the opinion of this committee that the textbooks in ■ high-school
economics should be so revised as to treat the subject of transportation in a
broader and more complete manner and to include more recent developments
in highway and waterway transportation as a means of assisting other modes
of transportation now in use.
3. The committee recommends very strongly the revision in textbooks of
civics, particularly as they refer to highway transport, and further recommends
that those in authority in the secondary and grade schools make strenuous
endeavors to satisfy the need in all phases of highway transport as it involves
both safety and economics.
4. The conmiittee suggests that the time is now opportune for the Bureau
of Education in Washington to consider stimulating interest in tlie field of
highway engineering and highway transport and to consider that the high-
school graduate should be helped in his selection of a vocation in life.
H. E. Hilts, Chairman.
REPORT OF THE VOCATIONAL EDUCATION COMMITTEE.
This committee discusses :
(1) The need of vocational training for —
(a) Foremen, road supervisors,
(ft) Chauffeurs and auto mechanics.
(2) Where and how the vocational training required for these positions
may best be given.
Training for foremen and road supervisors. — The discussion tended to show
that at present, to a very large degree, vocational competence in the positions
of foremen and road supervisors is reached as a result of actual experience on
EDUCATION FOR llir.inVAV KNGINEERIXG. 19
the job. The oonferenoo. while nvoiriiizlnu' the vahif nf this experience, coii-
eludeil that it eoiiM be iiiiule to yiehl more Immediate benellis as an occupational
traiuliiK factor if supplemented by or^'ani/e<l courses of Instruction designed to
extend and Improve the knowledge and skill of those underyoint: such experi-
ence. It was the consensus of opinion that, under present Federal and State
legislation, trade extension training for persons already employed in these posi-
tions mljiht be conducted at public expense by public-sdtool systems through the
«>rfra»iizatlon of dull-senson and evening classes. It appeartnl to be the general
belief, however, that the questions of what agency should undertake to provide
the necessary training, and of what the character and content of the traitwng
ought to be, should be determined only after a very careful study ami investi-
gation of the requirements for .successful .service in these positions.
Tniining fur chauffeurs and auto iiicchania<. — The discussion brought out tlie
fact that there is a great and increasing need of training for chauffeurs and
auto mechanics. The trend of the discussion indicated that this need is being
met only to a very slight extent at present through the agency of public schools.
It was linally agreed that the problem presented by this situation could best be
met at present by the following methods:
(1) By having employers assume responsibility for the initial training of
chautTeurs.
(2) By establishment anil maintenance of one or both of the following
"types of courses in public-school sj-stems, depending iiixm the local
conditions to be met —
(a) Day cour.ses, preparing specifically for the occuputiuu of auio
mechanics and open to persons 14 years of age or older
capable of profiting by the instruction.
(^) Short-unit evening courses, designed to extend the trade
knowledge and skill of persons already employed as
chauffeurs or auto mechanics.
Conclusions and recommcndationfs. — The discussion revealed that there is a
general lack of understanding on the part of representatives of industry in ref-
erence to the possible types of training service tJiat may be organize<l and main-
taincHl by public-school systems under existing laws. There was also revealed
a corresponding lack of information on the part of public-school authorities
in regard to the kinds and .specific requirements of positions for which repre-
sentatives of industry consider it neces.sary and desirable to provide organized
training. The conference concluded from the.se disclosures that there is need
of a more direct and effective means of presenting the required information to
industrj' and to the public schools and that i-epresentatives of indu.stry and
public-school administrators should work in close cooperation to the end that
approiiriate and economic plans of training for tlie positions under consideration
may be developed.
It was recommended that the general committee on highway and highway
tran.sport e<lucation set aside an adequate sum of money to be spent in in-
vestigating the requirements of positions for which training is needed, with
a view to developing appropriate courses of in.struction therefor. It was further
recommended that this work be Intrui^ed to competent educators, in coopera-
tion with recognizetl exjicrts in the ofcupttions for which training is to be
provided.
.V. S. HiKKiiLi., Chairman.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION FOR SAFETY.
1. That the Department of Education of Pennsylvania be asked to form more
extended courses for the schools under the subject of safety-first rule.'?, and
especially to require a more strict enforcement of existing rules than at present ;
20 EDUCATION FOR HIGHWAY ENGINEERING.
provided that if the laws of the State do not compel the teaching of these
safety-first rules that the next legislature be asked to enact legislation giving
authority to enforce them.
2. That the State superintendent of schools require reports of all accidents to
school children, whether on streets or elsewhere, and that accident statistics be
kept as a part of State school records, and that the tabulated reports be
published.
3. That we recommend the enactment of such legislation as will permit the
regulation of pedestrian traffic by vesting a greater degree of responsibility
of conduct in the pedestrian. We further recommend that a State law be
enacted empowering municipalities to adopt ordinances requiring in congestetl
districts and at other dangerous points that crossings be designated for foot
passengers and prohibiting the crossing at other than the crossings designated.
Habbiet Beard, Chairman.
o
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
BUREAU OF EDUCATION
BULLETIN. 1921. No. 48
EDUCATIONAL DIRECTORY
1921-1922 H
WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1922
3*73 ^
ttllefivis f3^». J
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